Method of and apparatus for reeling filamentary articles



Feb. 9, 1954 c. B. CLOTWORTHY, JR 2,668,673

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REELING FILAMENTARY ARTICLES Filed July 24.1950 2 Shee-ts-She'et l FIG. 4

lNl/ENTOR c. 8. CL OTWOR THY JR.

ATTORNEY 1954 c. B. CLOTWORTHY, JR 2,668,673

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR REELING FILAMENTARY ARTICLES Filed July 241950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR C. B. CLOTWORTHY JR.

ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 9, 1954 1 METHOD OFAND APPARATUS FORREELINGFIL'AMENTARY. ARTICLES Charles BJClotworthy, Jr.," Brooklandville, Md.,

assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York; N.'.Y;, acorporation of'New York ApplicationJuly 24, 1950, Serial N-. 175,569

Claims. 1 1

.Thisinvention relates to. methods of. and apparatus for reelingfilamentary articles and more particularly. to methods of andapparatusfor reellng flexible wires having a plurality of parallelconductors enclosed in a jacket.

Some types of mu1ticonduct0r. wires used with communications apparatushave the individual conductors thereof positioned parallel to eachother: and enclosed in a jacket. When a wire having; parallelconductorsv is wound around a takeupreel, at least one of the conductorstravels around ashorter circumferential path thanthat of the otherconductors. This difference in the length of the circumferential pathsof theconduotors causes the conductor or conductors formedaround theshorter path to buckle. and distort-the jacket of the wire. The relativepositions of the: conductors must be varied as the wire is wound on thereel to prevent them from buckling and distorting the jacket.

.An object. of the invention is to-provide new and improved methods ofand apparatus. for reeling. filamentary articles.

iAnother object. ofthe invention is to .provide new and improved methodsof and apparatus for-reeling flexible,- multi-conductor cordage.

A method of distributing and --reeling a filamentary articleillustratingcertain-features. of the invention, comprises. windingsuchan article in'a series ofconvolutionsand turning the article about. itslongitudinalaxis as it is wound throughout each-convolution to. preventthe articlefrom buckling as it is formed into said convolutions. Anapparatus illustrating certain features of theinvention comprises meansfor winding a fila mentary article in a-Series :ofconvolutions, andmeans for turning the article about its-longitudinal. axis throughoutthe convolutions on-the winding. means thereby: '-preventing the.article from buckling as it is wound thereon. A clear understanding :ofvthe invention will be had from the following detailed desoription of amethod and an apparatus formingspecifictembodiments thereof, whenread-in-conjunction with the appended drawings, in which: "Fig; 1. is aplan view of a strand distributing and reeling apparatus*embodyingcertain featuresof the invention;

' Fig. 2 is an enlarged, horizontal-section taken along line 2'2 of'Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is, an enlargedztransverse section taken along line 3-'-.-3 ofFig. 1', and

Fig. 4 is an enlargedtransverse section taken along line 44-4 of Fig. 1.

"- Referring nowto :the" drawing, and-.more.=par-r.

51.2 ticularly to Fig.1. areel .Ill forcoiling a flexible,multi-conductorwire 'llv is mounted rotatably between a support 14 and ahousing [5 provided on a base It. .The reel I0 is driven by a motor l8through conventional. suitable gearing (not shown) provided in thehousing I5.

The wire It includes a plurality of. individually insulated conductors.20, 2| and 22 (Fig. 3) enclosed in a flexible jacket. 23. Thejacket-23., as shown, .is a solid massnof insulating material which hasbeen extruded .over the conductors 20, 2| and '22. Thev jacket may bemade. of oneol various elastomeric compounds that may be extruded overthe conductors and. cured into. a tough, elastic jacket by theapplication of heat and pressure, or may consist of one of various typesof thermoplastic compounds which may: be usedior insulating and.jacketing conductors. If desired, the jacket may consist of a .knittedor braided textile material, such as cotton, which may impregnated, ifnecessary. 'The conductors 20, 2| and.22 arepositioned in the jacket.23with their axes parallel to the longitudinalaxis of the complete wirethroughoutits entire length, and the jacket 23 holds. the conductors 20,2| and22 in that position.

. For purposes of illustrating. the present invention. it will beassumed that the jacket 23 is made of asthermoplastic material, such aspolyvinyl chloride, and that the wire H is advancedcontinuously towardthe reel ID at a substantially constant linear speed from apparatus (notshown) designed to extrude the jacket around the conductors.

The wire ll (Figs. 1 and .2) passes under a sheave mounted rotatably onan arm 25 secured to a post-ifi-journalled in a bearing 28.fixed on theend of a bracket 30. .A compression spring 3| positioned over the post26 between. the. arm 25 and-the bracket 30h0lds a pin 33 in either ofslots 34-34- provided in. the end of the bearing 28; A handle-35 isprovided on the end of the post '26 for sliding the post-in the bearinso -as:to disengage the pin from the slot in which itis-engaged and forturning the post until the pin 33 is positioned in the desired slot.This arrangement of the pin 33 and the slots 34- -34 inthe bearing 28provides a means for varyin the position of the sheave 24 with respectto the bracket .30.

The bracket 30: is secured rigidly to anut -31 threadedly engaging atraversing screw journalledin. the supports 14 and I5 and driven by themotor lfijthrou'gh suitable conventional au tomatieally 'reversinggearing .(not shown) proscrew 38 and vertically aligned with thetraversing screw (Fig. 2). The wire I I travels to the left, as viewedin Fig. l, and around the under side of the sheave 2B, upwardly around aportion of a roller 45, preferably of metal, mount-.

ed rotatably on a post 46 secured to the bracket 30, between guiderollers 48-48 mounted ro-, tatably on the nut 31 and then to the reel I0. When the motor is driving the reel I and the traversing screw 38, thereel I 9 takes up the wire II and the nut 31 is reciprocated across thewinding surface of the reel so that the rollers"4848 carried therebydistribute the wire II uniformly on the winding surface of the reel.

The post 46 is mounted on the bracket 39 so that the axis of rotation ofthe roller 55 is disposed at a predetermined angle with respect to thesheave 2-4 and the longitudinal axis of the wire. The rollers 48-4a andthe sheave hold the Wire in a path of travel perpendicular to the axisof the reel, and as a result, the wire travels diagonally across theperiphery of the roller 45, as shown in Fig. 1. The Wire rotates theroller 45 about its axis, and since its axis of rotation is inclinedwith respect to the longitudinal axis of the wire II, such rotation ofthe roller rotates the portion of the wire I! between the reel It) andthe sheave 24 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3,about its longitudinal axis, and the conductors assume the positionsshown in Fig. 4. Until slippage occurs between the wire and the roller45, each increment of wire first engages the portion of the roller nearthe upper end thereof, as viewed in Fig. 1, and, as each increment ispulled on over the roller, tension on the Wire pulls that increment awayfrom the upper end of the roller toward the lower end of the wire,thereby rolling the wire along the roller. The wire is rotated about itslongitudinal axis until the frictional contact between the wire and thesurface of the roller is overcome by the torsional stresses built up inthe jacket 23 and in the individual conductors 20, 2I and 22, at whichpoint the wire slips on the roller 45 and unwinds in the oppositedirection and releases these torsional stresses. This Winding andunwinding occurs at successive intervals and produces an oscillation ofthe wire about its longitudinal axis, which first twists the individualconductors 20, 2| and 22 in a counterclockwise direction about thelongitudinal axis of the wire from their normal parallel relationship toa helical relationship, and then the conductors unwind in the oppositedirection about the longitudinal axis of the wire until they approachtheir normal parallel relationship.

The wire is taken up by the reel It as it 0scillates in this manner,whereby the portions of the conductors in adjacent convolutions on thereel'are twisted out of their original parallel relationship and theirrespective circumferential paths of travel around the winding surface ofthe reel are substantially equal. This equalizing of the circumferentialpaths of travel of the conductors in the convolutions wound on the reelprevents any conductor in each convolution from. having acircumferenetial path of travel shorter than that of the otherconductors in the same.

convolution, which condition would cause the conductor having theshorter circumferential path to buckle and distort the jacket 23 of thewire.

Operation Let it be assumed that the Wire I I, which is advancing to theleft at a constant linear speed, when viewed in Fig. 1, has itsindividual, parallel conductors 20, 2I and 22 positioned as shown inFig. 3, at a point just to the right of the sheave 24. At this point,two of the conductors 2! and 22 are positioned below the longitudinalaxis of the wire II and the third conductor 2c is positioned above thelongitudinal axis of the wire. The wire passes under the sheave 24, overthe upper portion of the roller and between the guide rollers 48 il3 tothe takeup reel I3. When the motor I8 is energized, it rotates the reelI0 to take up the wire in a series of helical convolutions around itswinding surface, and rotates the traversing screw 38 to reciprocate thenut 3'5, the rollers 4l88 and the bracket carrying the roller 45 and thesheave 2d transversely across the winding surface of the reel. As thereel takes up the wire I I, the guide rollers 88-48 distribute the wireII uniformly on the winding surface of the reel. 7

If the wire I l were wound directly around the winding surface of thereel ID with the conductors 20, 2| and 22 parallel to each other, theconductors 2i and 22 positioned below the longitudinal axis would beformed around a shorter radius than that of the conductor 20, which ispositioned above the longitudinal axis. As a result, a difference in thelength of th circumferential paths of travel of the upper and lowerconductors would occur and cause the lower condutcors to buckle anddistort the jacket 23 of the wire.

This tendency of the conductor positioned below the longitudinal axis ofthe wire to buckle is prevented by the roller 45 because, as the wire IItravels around the upper portion of the roller 45, it rotates the rollerand the roller in turn rotates the portion of the wire between thesheave and the reel and twists the conductors in a counterclockwisedirection about the longitudinal axis of the wire, and the conductorsassume the positions shown in Fig. 4. The roller 45 rotates the wireuntil the torsional stresses built up in the jacket 23 and theindividual conductor overcome the frictional contact between the wireand the surface of the roller, whereupon the stresses cause the wire toslip on the roller and unwind the conductors about the longitudinal axisof the wire in the opposite direction. As soon as these torsionalstresses are relieved, the roller 45 starts to twist the wire in itsoriginal direction. The resulting oscillation of the conductors and thewire continuously varies the relative position of the individualconductors with respect to the longitudinal axis of the wire.

The major portion of the oscillation of the wire II occurs between thepoint of contact be-' tween the wire and the winding surface of thereel-and the point of contact between the wire and the sheave 2d. Thesheave 24 is spaced a predetermined distance from the reel It! so that apredetermined number of rotations of the wire about its longitudinalaxis occurs in the portion of the wire therebetvveen before the jacketand conductors build up sufficient torsional stresses therein to causethe wire to slip on the roller and then unwind and rotate the wire in anopposite. direction. This oscillation of the wire aboutitszlongitudinaliaxis: betweenithersheave-M and the reel l0continually-varies;the:= relative positionspfjthe conductorswitharespect to the longitudinal .axis of the. wire at ,irregularintervals-,and maintains the circumferential'l'ength of theconductorsintheconvolutions' wound around the reel-substantially equalthereby preventing the conductors from buckling. and distorting. thejacket of. the wire.

a Theamount of twist imparted-to the wire by the roller 45 isdeter'minedby' the angle at which the roller is positioned with respectto the longitudinalaxis of the wire,'the size of theroller45, thediameter of the wire, the material from which the jacket 23 is made, thedistance between the reel l0 and the sheave 24.

In the structure described hereinabove, the roller 45 is eight inches indiameter and is inclined at an angle of about 55 or 60 with respect tothe longitudinal axis of the wire, and the reel l0 and sheave 24 arespaced 33 inches between centers. The wire I! has three conductorsenclosed in a polyvinyl chloride jacket 23 and has a diameter of .170inch. With the sheave 24 positioned so that the wire H makesapproximately one-quarter turn around the roller 45, it was found thatthe roller 45 rotates the portion of the wire between the reel and thesheave 24 about one turn in a counterclockwise direction about itslongitudinal axis, and the conductors assume their positions shown inFig. 4. After the wire rotates about one turn, it slips on the surfaceof the roller and unwinds in an opposite direction and the conductorsassume their respective positions, as viewed in Fig. 3. Ihe position ofthe sheave 24 with respect to the roller may be adjusted to increase ordecrease the amount of contact between the wire and the roller andthereby increase or decrease the amount of rotation imparted to the wireby the roller 45.

It is to be understood that when the conductors 20, 21 and 22 areenclosed in a textile jacket, it may be desirable to provide a rubbersurface on the roller 45 to obtain sufficient frictional contact betweenthe wire and the roller to obtain the desired rotation of the wire bythe roller.

The above-described method and apparatus for coiling a multi-conductorwire on a reel may be modified to suit various types of filamentaryarticles without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.The term filamentary article, as used herein and in the annexed claims,is generic to various articles of indefinite length and is meant toembrace, wire rope having parallel elements, insulated wires having aplurality of conductors enclosed in a jacket so that they are parallel,various types of textile articles, and all articles having parallelelements which would buckle when wound around a takeup reel, or thelike.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for reeling filamentary articles having a plurality ofelements parallel to the longitudinal axis of the article, whichcomprises a reel for coiling such an article in a series of convolutionsaround the winding surface thereof, means for distributing theconvolutions uniformly across the winding surface of the reel, and aroller secured on said distributing means so as to be engaged by thearticle being reeled, said roller being mounted in such a position withrespect to the longitudinal axis of the article that it rotates thearticle about its longitudinal axis a predetermined number of turns atsuccessive intervals as it is wound on the reel, said rotation of thearticle varying the relative positions of thelelements(throughout;eachconvolutionwound on thereeL; therebyxpreventing theieiementsifmmbuckling as the article is wound=on=the-;ree1..

- 2.v An apparatus .fordistributing: and-reeling wire having a pluralityof'individually insulated conductors. arranged parallel-to each otherand enclosedin a flexible jacket, which comprisesia reel for takingupsuch a wire in a SBL'iESUOf. convolutions around its winding surface;means for guiding the wire tothe-reel, means driven intimed-relationship-with respect to the reel, for reciprocating theguiding means soas to distribute the convolutions. uniformlyv acrossathewinding surface of the reel, and a roller mounted on the distributingmeans at an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of thewire for rotating the wire about its longitudinal axis as it is wound onthe reel, said rotation of the wire varying the relative positions ofthe conductors so that they are not parallel to the longitudinal axis ofthe wire throughout the convolutions on the reel, thereby preventing theconductors from buckling and distorting the jacket of the wire.

3. An apparatus for distributing and reeling a wire having a pluralityof individual conductors arranged parallel to each other and enclosed ina flexible jacket, which comprises a takeup reel, means for rotating thereel to wind such a wire in a series of helical convolutions on thereel, means for guiding the wire to the reel, a traversing screwthreadedly engaging the guiding means driven by the motor in timedrelation with respect to the reel for reciprocating the guiding means todis-. tribute the convolutions uniformly across the winding surface ofthe reel, a sheave rotatably mounted on the guiding means under whichthe wire passes as it travels to the reel, and a roller reciprocatedwith the guiding means and positioned at an angle with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the wire for rotating the wire about itslongitudinal axis a predetermined number of turns at successiveintervals, said rotation of the wire about its longitudinal axis varyingthe relative positions of the conductors with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the wire throughout each convolution wound on thereel to prevent the conductors from buckling as the wire is wound on thereel.

4. An apparatus for distributing and reeling wire having a plurality ofindividually insulated conductors arranged parallel to each other andenclosed in a flexible jacket, which comprises a reel, a motor fordriving the reel to take up such a wire in a series of convolutionsaround the winding surface of the reel, means driven by the motor fordistributing the convolutions uniformly across the winding surface ofthe reel, a sheave rotatably mounted on the distributing means in such aposition that the wire passes under the sheave as it travels to thereel, and a roller rotatably mounted on the distributing means andinclined at an angle toward the sheave for rotating the portion of thewire between the sheave and the reel about the longitudinal axis of thewire a predetermined number of turns at succesallel to the longitudinalaxis of the wire through-- out and thereby prevents as the convolutionsare wound on the reel the conductors from buckling and deforming thejacket of the wire as it is wound on the reel.

5. The method of reeling a wire having a plurality of conductorsenclosed in a jacket so that they are parallel to the longitudinal axisof the wire, which comprises continuously advancing such a wire to atakeup reel, winding the wire on the reel, and continuously exerting apredetermined rolling force on the wire at a predetermined point in thepath of the wire, said force and said distance being such that the wirerepeatedly is twisted and untwists itself, whereby the wire wound on thereel has alternate twists References Cited in the file of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 691,797 Norman Jan. 28, 19021,816,909 Larsen Aug. 4, 1931 1,849,924 Hall et a1 Mar. 15, 19322,370,899 Wildbore Mar. 6, 1945 2,410,419 Bellezza, Jr Nov. 5, 19462,462,296 Yirava Feb. 22, 1949

